Our car was stolen recently.
We have a "secure" parking space with our apartment. Somehow someone got it out of the car park. There is a gate which you need a fob key to get in and out from. I have no idea why they targeted our car, its a 15 year old vauxhall, there were much more fancier cars in the car park than hours.
But my little car had been a trojan over the years, I was sad to see him go, he was low maintenance, low insurance and of course paid for a long time ago. We used him for a run around at the weekends and also to escape into the countryside at the weekends.
Now we have no car. Its been four weeks and still no car.
And we have no immediate plans to get a new one.
DH and I walk to work, we have numerous supermarkets around us. We have been taking a train to the countryside at the weekends. And we do a lot more walking without a car. Last weekend we counted up we must have walked about 10 miles!
DH and I have talked about getting another car but we cant really come up with an excuse as to why we need a car. So why purchase a car when we will have to spend on the insurance, tax and the depreciation??
Talking about cutting costs, I've also cancelled my gym. Sorry but it has taken me a long time to realise that gym's don't work (for me) long term. I don't enjoy the gym and I see it as a chore. I feel that I have to go because I am paying for it. The truth is the gym makes me feel stressed. Running on a wheel and staring at a wall with other sweaty bodies makes me feel claustrophobic and anxious. I could rant on about gyms but I am sure that there are some people who enjoy the gym. I prefer to get my exercise in the fresh air hiking up a mountain. So that's more money saved. Actually I'm donating it to charity.
I've also started using cash only at its amazing how much less we spend. More on that to follow.
Wednesday, 18 November 2009
Saturday, 24 October 2009
Nova Scotia?
Where can I get a detached house with some land on the water with great scenery for circa £100k?Nova Scotia.
I've been thinking about Nova Scotia again as a base. I say again because DH and I have discussed in the past NS as a possible place to Escape too. At that point we were interested in buying a property large enough to run a small B&B operation. The main obstacle to this was/is the immigration rules. To run a business as we wanted you needed evidence of experience of managing or running your own business of choice etc with evidence of turnover figures. So that was a non starter.
But, what if we just bought a property as a base? We are not looking to work in Canada, we don't want Canadians' jobs and we would not be a drain on the economy. Apparently anyone can buy property there but you have no right to reside there. You have to take your chance everytime you go through immigration and enter the country.
My understanding of the immigration rules is that we can stay 6 months in Canada and then you have to leave. Well, could we just go over the border and go shopping and come back or would we actually have to fly out and get our passport stamped as evidence we have left? Is this a viable option? How strict are they at immigration?
My real concern is falling fowl of the immigration rules. The trouble is there is actually very little written in the rules about this scenario. It just seems that one is at the mercy of the immigration officer at the point of entry. If they think that we are in reality living in Canada and just going back and fourth to every so often would we run into trouble? Its a real concern.
I have heard of people having 2nd homes in north america before without any problems. We have all heard of the older British "snowbirds" who have houses in Florida.
Can anyone shed any light on this. Or does anyone have any thoughts.
I am not thinking of Canada just because we can buy a house for cheap. I love the great outdoors and have always found the people to be warm and friendly.
Any comments or advice are welcome.
Tuesday, 6 October 2009
Where's my pension?
Last night I watched a programme on television about people who had lost out with pensions.
The programme featured people with concerns about final salary pensions, private pensions and even public sector pensions.
The person in the final salary feature described how she had worked for her employer for 20 years and was looking forward to retiring in her sixties with two thirds of her final salary. However her employer had recently entered into a consultation process with her (and others in the workforce I suspect) with a view to seeking her agreement to end her entitlement to a final salary pension. Her entitlement to date would be preserved but the final salary scheme itself would be scrapped. My own view is that the employer is merely going through the consultation motions and will unilaterally impose this change in the absence of mutual agreement. There was some talk of the employer offering a small “sweetener” in return for agreement. What recourse does this lady have? Well, she could sue the employer for breach of contract, but how practical is this? A common tactic for employers in this situation is to dismiss the employee under the old terms of the contract and immediately re-engage under the new terms, this can be a legitimate action for employers to take in some circumstances. In reality I fear she will just have to put up and shut up.
Anyway, this lady described how she was looking forward to her retirement so she could do all the things she had wanted to do when she was working!!!! This was someone in her early forties who described with sadness that she did not now think she would be able to afford to go to Peru or stay in nice hotels which she had thought her final salary pension would pay for. It seemed she was banking on that money. I will be honest, I sympathise with her but I was also surprised at her naivety. This is someone who had the luxury of having a reasonably well paid job with the SAME employer for over 20 years. How many of us have had that luxury?
The programme also featured a man whose private pension had drastically been reduced in value and now had to return to the workforce in poor health in his sixties. There was another man who had lost his pension fund when his employers went into administration who was campaigning for compensation from the government, he too had to go back to work because he needed the money badly only he couldn't find a job. He was trying to sell his house for £700,000! but no takers (it looked overpriced).
It struck me that it was a great shame that someone seemed prepared to wait until their sixties to go and do what they really wanted to do. The programme also featured other people whose final salary pensions were disappearing and this included public sector workers.
I don’t have a private pension, I put money away myself to enjoy my life now rather than when I’m in my sixties, when I may or may not be around. According to the governments present rules I will be 68 before I am entitled to draw my state pension. Yes 68. This is incompatible with the fact that employers can compulsorily retire employees once they are age 65 or over, this is a mockery of the age discrimination laws. So if you can be legitimately sacked when you are 65 but you are not old enough to get the state pension how are you supposed to provide for yourself?
I am not banking on the state pension. I have no doubt that the Government will keep on raising the qualifying ages for the state pension.
In these times I think pensions are a big con, they are sold and recommended by the same people who have a vested interest in people taking the longest route possible to retirement i.e. financial advisers and the Government. But this is another example of the herd mentality of society, work until your 65 and then you can take your pension and enjoy life. No, we can opt out of the traditional 40 plus years of full time working and find other ways to support ourselves. Why not semis retire at 35 for example? Why not have mini retirements or long sabbaticals. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing.
We have to make our own provision in life, because if we don’t no one else will.
The programme featured people with concerns about final salary pensions, private pensions and even public sector pensions.
The person in the final salary feature described how she had worked for her employer for 20 years and was looking forward to retiring in her sixties with two thirds of her final salary. However her employer had recently entered into a consultation process with her (and others in the workforce I suspect) with a view to seeking her agreement to end her entitlement to a final salary pension. Her entitlement to date would be preserved but the final salary scheme itself would be scrapped. My own view is that the employer is merely going through the consultation motions and will unilaterally impose this change in the absence of mutual agreement. There was some talk of the employer offering a small “sweetener” in return for agreement. What recourse does this lady have? Well, she could sue the employer for breach of contract, but how practical is this? A common tactic for employers in this situation is to dismiss the employee under the old terms of the contract and immediately re-engage under the new terms, this can be a legitimate action for employers to take in some circumstances. In reality I fear she will just have to put up and shut up.
Anyway, this lady described how she was looking forward to her retirement so she could do all the things she had wanted to do when she was working!!!! This was someone in her early forties who described with sadness that she did not now think she would be able to afford to go to Peru or stay in nice hotels which she had thought her final salary pension would pay for. It seemed she was banking on that money. I will be honest, I sympathise with her but I was also surprised at her naivety. This is someone who had the luxury of having a reasonably well paid job with the SAME employer for over 20 years. How many of us have had that luxury?
The programme also featured a man whose private pension had drastically been reduced in value and now had to return to the workforce in poor health in his sixties. There was another man who had lost his pension fund when his employers went into administration who was campaigning for compensation from the government, he too had to go back to work because he needed the money badly only he couldn't find a job. He was trying to sell his house for £700,000! but no takers (it looked overpriced).
It struck me that it was a great shame that someone seemed prepared to wait until their sixties to go and do what they really wanted to do. The programme also featured other people whose final salary pensions were disappearing and this included public sector workers.
I don’t have a private pension, I put money away myself to enjoy my life now rather than when I’m in my sixties, when I may or may not be around. According to the governments present rules I will be 68 before I am entitled to draw my state pension. Yes 68. This is incompatible with the fact that employers can compulsorily retire employees once they are age 65 or over, this is a mockery of the age discrimination laws. So if you can be legitimately sacked when you are 65 but you are not old enough to get the state pension how are you supposed to provide for yourself?
I am not banking on the state pension. I have no doubt that the Government will keep on raising the qualifying ages for the state pension.
In these times I think pensions are a big con, they are sold and recommended by the same people who have a vested interest in people taking the longest route possible to retirement i.e. financial advisers and the Government. But this is another example of the herd mentality of society, work until your 65 and then you can take your pension and enjoy life. No, we can opt out of the traditional 40 plus years of full time working and find other ways to support ourselves. Why not semis retire at 35 for example? Why not have mini retirements or long sabbaticals. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing.
We have to make our own provision in life, because if we don’t no one else will.
Thursday, 1 October 2009
Back from Ibiza
Just returned from a week's holiday in Ibiza.
We enjoyed our time in Ibiza, its a very pretty place, very hilly and green with fantastic scenery.
It could be a contender for an extended stay, everything was much cheaper than when we went to Greece in May.
Ibiza has a chilled out vibe, perhaps slightly bohemian in parts, that suits me.
We managed to get some hiking done, we hired a car and saw most of the island.
We stayed in an apartment overlooking the sea in the north of the island. We saw some great sunsets eating paella and drinking rioja.
Well, back to the grind for now.
We enjoyed our time in Ibiza, its a very pretty place, very hilly and green with fantastic scenery.
It could be a contender for an extended stay, everything was much cheaper than when we went to Greece in May.
Ibiza has a chilled out vibe, perhaps slightly bohemian in parts, that suits me.
We managed to get some hiking done, we hired a car and saw most of the island.
We stayed in an apartment overlooking the sea in the north of the island. We saw some great sunsets eating paella and drinking rioja.
Well, back to the grind for now.
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